Untitled

In this work colored pigment is laid down on the paper, wiped off, laid down again, and frequently (according to her daughter) the paper was ironed by Schendel in between paint applications. The result is a level of watery saturation in which it feels as if the fibers of the paper are practically drowning and swollen with pigment. The geometric design mimics mosaic work or tesserae, and this decorative rather than representational approach to the picture plane is redolent of a kind of Kabala-like decorative strategies. This drawing is notable for its verdant palette, which in its sprightliness summons all of the energies of spring. The silver disks that hover in the image, however, bring a mineral, earthly, and even "timeless" quality to the otherwise fleeting sensibility of the spring-like green. The drawing teeters and totters between these naturalistic references and sensibilities and a clear and strong interest in geometrical forms and the kind of all-over composition pioneered by an artist like Mondrian. The tension between the organic and the inorganic is a hallmark of Schendel's oeuvre, and this drawing is a wonderful example of her pursuit of the resolution of that which is putatively diametrically opposed.